Cash problems for Bulls

5th December 2013

Bradford Bulls have been plunged into another financial crisis, although officials insist the club is not on the brink of going back into administration.

The Bulls' new board of directors told a fans forum that the club's finances are worse than they were led to believe and that they have "unearthed information which has proved detrimental to the stability of the club".

Chairman Mark Moore and fellow directors Andrew Calvert and Ian Watt, who took control six weeks ago from previous owner Omar Khan, warned that cutbacks will have to be made and that players may need to be sold as they look to shed £400,000 from their outgoings over the next 12 months.

Bradford went into administration in June 2012 with debts thought to be around £1.5million but were saved by local businessman Khan and MP Gerry Sutcliffe.

The new directors, recently ratified by the Rugby Football League, told fans they recently discovered fresh loans that had been taken out against the club and revealed that concerts staged last year to raise funds are estimated to have lost £100,000.

A club spokesperson said: "The last administrative team struggled to understand the full impact of running this club and stepped away from the business with large outstanding debts, which the Bulls are now recovering from."

The directors say their predecessors gave head coach Francis Cummins an unrealistic playing and backroom budget and, as a result, they will now be forced to implement tough cost-cutting measures.

"This is likely to mean staff redundancies, across a range of departments, as well as budget reductions," the spokesperson added.

"Areas of the business have been allowed to dangerously overspend and this is now going to have an obvious impact on the club.

"Season-ticket sales are vastly down on forecasted projections and, like last season, the club will again receive half of its allocated central funding due to the agreement made between the Super League and the former board at the time of initial purchase.

"As a club we are left with no choice but to make difficult decisions in a bid to streamline the business.

"Our incomings simply do not match our current outgoings, so over the next few days we have to make tough decisions on every business unit in the club.

"The goal for next year is now to survive, compete and win back the trust of supporters and previous sponsors, while looking forward to receiving our full allocation of central funding ahead of 2015."